Chapter 13

 

 

 

Chapter 13

 

BY the time she realized it, Yuki was fast asleep in the same bed as Selena. Although the cabin was the perfect size for two people, there weren’t enough beds for five people to spend the night.

I woke up early again.

The morning sun had partially begun its ascent as a faint light glowed behind the curtains, lighting the darkness. Yuki squirmed out of bed, careful not to wake Selena. With one giant yawn, she departed Rifae’s bedroom. She opened the door to the dark hallway, her eyes trailing to the dim light seeping under the door across from the living room—Rifae’s study.

“Rifae, are you awake?” Yuki asked, softly knocking on the door.

“Come in,” he answered. An herbal smell hung in the room. Rifae sat at his desk making the same Ten Day Fever medicine.

“Rifae?!”

“Ooh, Yuki. Morning, dearie.” He glanced up at her, never taking his hands off the pestle and mortar. Dark bags hung under his eyes and powder splotched his cheeks and the tip of his nose.

“What are you doing…?”

A single look would tell what he was doing—compounding medicine. Even so, she had to ask.

“You know how Selena said you guys would be leaving today? I thought I should make as much medicine as possible until then.”

The powdery medicine, no bigger than her thumb nail, had tripled in amount since she last assisted him.

“How do you take this medicine?”

“Mix it into hot water and drink it. Cold water will work too, but it’ll end up much thicker. The water takes on a mucky, thick brown texture that’s pretty gross to look at. But if it cures you, even the nasty stuff is worth suffering through.”

He ran his fingertips through the powder, building a small pile out of it. The medicine compounded from dark-green and scum-green herbs put a bitter taste in Yuki’s mouth just by smelling it.

“Isn’t this medicine incredible?”

They had created a miracle medicine to help with an illness that had once reduced the majority of the world’s population to death. Wasn’t it an incredible feat?

“I wonder sometimes. It will be a step toward success if it decreases the fatality rate at all. But there’s no guarantee it will help everyone. We can’t get people’s hopes up needlessly.”

“Why not?”

“This isn’t a miracle cure that will heal anyone who takes it. We can’t take responsibility for patients who buy the medicine and still die without getting better.”

“I see…”

A lot goes into making a single medicine.

“Besides, a medicine for the Ten Day Fever has been in the works for decades.”

“It has?”

“Yes. Taking what had been researched and adding an additional ingredient resulted in this medicine.”

Yuki saw all the ingredients when she assisted Rifae in mixing them together, but she couldn’t stop from having doubts about the powdery concoction resulting from compounding several different shades of smelly green.

“That reminds me, you added in the ingredient Vigo brought for you, right? What kind of medicinal plant was it?”

“Hm?” Rifaenotis flashed a grin and pulled a violet ore from somewhere. “Surprised? I was shocked too. Vigo often has outlandish ideas.”

W-Well, I guess some Earth medicines make use of mold…

Yuki stared at the glistening violet ore.

***

A few hours later, everyone woke up, ate the breakfast Est made, and packed their things. Yuki stuffed several changes of clothes given to her by Est, the Ten Day Fever Medicine, dried fruit and dried meat into the jute bag Vivi had handed her more than two weeks ago. Est wrapped essentials and nonessentials in two neat cloth bags for her to take as she had little of her own to survive a venture into the woods once more.

The sun ascended into the sky, and not wanting to leave too late into the afternoon, they decided to leave as soon as they ate lunch.

“He got me again,” Vigo cursed under his breath, babying a dreadful headache accompanying his hangover. Hurried along by an awfully cheery Selena, he sagged onto the back of his horse.

Summoned by Selena, Yuki hung her bag over her shoulder. Rifaenotis and Est watched her. Adjusting the straps over her shoulder, she bowed to them. “You really took care of me these past few days. Thank you very much for showing kindness to me when I had nowhere else to go.”

Rifae returned her smile and Est turned his face away from it. Knowing that was just Est hiding his shyness proved how well she had gotten to know him.

“Rifae, thank you for telling me a lot of things too. Thanks to you, I feel like I know what I want to do now.”

“Really? Glad to hear it, dear. Oh, right,” Rifae said, pulling a black bag from behind him and holding it out to her. “A farewell gift for you, sweetie.”

“For me? Thank you. Can I look at it?” She confirmed his nod and opened the thin bag. “…How?”

A wooden bow and a quiver with a good supply of arrows peeked out of the bag. Tucked beside them was a pair of leather gloves to protect her hands.

“How did you know…?”

“Your skin was tough and coarse in all the necessary places when I held your hand,” he explained with a smile that was a mirror of the smile he flashed the day they met in the rain.

I think he has thicker skin than me in the figurative sense.

“Yuki, you can trust us to a degree,” he started, bending to eye level with her. “This might not be convincing coming from me, but you will fare much better in life if you don’t trust people you just met. You let your defenses down too easily. You are going to dangerous places. Keep your wits about you at all times.”

He makes a good point, but I’ve been blessed with all the people I have met so far. I’ve seen things I would have never dreamed of and learned more than I wanted to know.

“I think you are correct, Rifae.”

Yes, everything Rifaenotis ever said was always correct. But—

“Someone who’s an oddity like me can’t be the first to doubt someone. I have to trust them first. Because if I start off by being suspicious of them, they will become even more suspicious of me. I’ll lose my chance to earn their trust. ‘If you trust them first, they will come to trust you.’”

Selena called for Yuki from her horse.

“That was what Pa—my father taught me! I won’t stop trusting others, whoever they may be.” Embarrassed by what she said, she forced a smile to distract from the pink hue on her cheeks. Wanting to change the topic, she thought back to the shadowy figure reflected in the crystal. “S-Speaking of which, the person I glimpsed in your crystal the other day kind of looks like my father.”

She smiled at Rifaenotis, but something sharp glinted in his eyes. “If I may ask…where is your father now?”

“What?” The last day she saw him replayed in her mind. The spitefully cloudless sky. The weightless plummet as the world whizzed by her. His face looking down dolefully at her. “…Somewhere far away.”

“YUKI! We’re going!” Selena bellowed.

“Ah, okaaay! I’d better get going. Thanks for the bow and arrows!” She waved and dashed off.

“Yuki!” She looked back. Rifaenotis knelt before her with his new artificial leg. “…Please, stay healthy…”

“I will! Thanks!” She gave a big nod and waved a second time.

Selena’s long arm reached down and pulled her onto the horse in front of her. She pulled on the reins and kicked, sending Yuki forward with a jerk as the horse galloped away. Without looking back, she locked her eyes on the scenery ahead.

“Our first stop will be at the closest orphanage to here,” Selena explained.

“Okay.”

“Try not to talk too much to avoid biting your tongue.”

After a jerky nod from Yuki, Selena kicked her boot into the horse’s side again.

***

MORE than once, he thought the girl resembled his Sovereign. First, there was the shocking fact anyone could be as naïve and innocent as that man. And then there was his despondency that he wouldn’t mind if that person was the only one with such innocence. Finally, there was the nostalgic warmth he hadn’t felt in ages.

“If you trust them first, they will come to trust you.”

At all times, his Sovereign repeated those words to himself and befriended everyone without question. Overwhelmingly more people took advantage of his trust rather than be grateful. Yet his Sovereign still continued to trust the masses.

It was because he was such a person that Rifaenotis wanted to protect him with everything he had.

“Lord Cahn…”

The treasure he couldn’t protect.

“…Far away.”

No doubt the place she spoke of was somewhere Rifaenotis couldn’t go. No, if he tried he could go, but there was no guarantee he would find him.

“…Is that the person you’re searching for, Rifae?”

Snapping back to reality, he wondered how long he stood in the same spot he bid the girl farewell. The sound of hooves had long since disappeared into the woods.

Has he been standing beside me this whole time?

Rifaenotis opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say. Est had always hated the man he sought. A man he had never even laid eyes on before. Worried because Rifae wouldn’t stop searching for him.

Worried… Those ashen eyes watched him careful, waiting for a reaction. Is he worried about me?

A deliberately loud sigh cut through his confusion.

“Forget it. It’s not like I’m angry you’re looking for him. I-If anything, you could say I feel bad for not helping you with the search. I’ll assist you with it now.”

Daggers pierced his heart. The fact this small boy’s existence had grown more important than the loss of his Sovereign—a loss he had long since known about—moreover, the fact he caused him worry penetrated his very being with pain.

All this time… When did he notice? Since when did he start watching over me? With his small body and young age.

His body moved before he thought about it.

“So? What’s their name?”

His arms wrapped around Est’s shoulders. He hugged the body two sizes smaller than his own.

“Huh? Um? Rifae…?”

“It’s fine now.”

“What’s fine?”

“It’s fine. That person isn’t here anymore.”

Rifae knew that long, long ago. He simply became stubborn because he didn’t want to acknowledge it. Just how much did his stubbornness hurt Est?

I’m sorry. Thank you.

Est seemed like he would break if Rifaenotis squeezed him too tightly, yet he still frantically tried to support Rifaenotis’ body with his own. He always, always stayed by his side.

That person isn’t around anymore. But I have this child. This time, for sure, I will protect him with all my power.

***

LATE into the evening the howl of wind battered the cabin’s walls with a deluge of raindrops. A candle flickered dully in the corner of the room. Rifae’s only true source of light was the blood moon piercing through the thick black clouds laden with fat raindrops.

Diligently he worked with a variety of herbs, careful to sort them out and prepare the poultices for when Selena and Vigo returned. There were any number of routes the future may lead too; each and every path had a use for his concoctions.

A heavy thud caused the window to shake in place, the wind howled and the rain increased as the storm grew. The air puffed in front of his oddly chilled lips. Rifae paused at the oddity. While it was cool at the moment, the sudden drop in temperature shouldn’t have been so great. Frost covered his desk and the uncut herbs grew icicles that reflected the light of the blood moon.

Rifae pushed back from his desk and stood, fear clutched at his heart as he realized the very floorboards were now covered in frost, as were a number of walls. Shadows crawled along the floor, and wherever the light failed to touch the very darkness seemed to writhe with tendrils.

“I see, so my guess was right—she is the one.” At his words the room grew even colder. Air puffed out with his every breath and only the blood moon provided any light as the candle flickered out with a suffocating pop.

Dark unseen fingers fluttered against his flesh, dancing around his throat as an invisible grip began to squeeze.

Rifae stood firm, even as the fear all but threatened to consume him. “No matter what happens, the path leading forward is set.” The grip tightened further, he coughed but remained standing, “I-I will serve as I have always served. And there is…someone I must protect.”

Air rushed into his lungs as the feeling of a hand on his throat faded away, a cackling echoed through the room and with a sudden burst of warmth the darkness fled. Rifae jumped at the sudden snap of a candle relighting—even the storm sounded weaker.

“What a troublesome guardian you have, Yuki.” Rifae mumbled rubbing at his throat. With a heavy sigh, he returned to his work, the room around him once more silent as the rain continued to fall.